


TJ's Pool

by Squilkey



Series: Neighbours [3]
Category: Andi Mack (TV)
Genre: And anxious, Crushes, Cyrus is Awkward, M/M, Pool Party, Side Ambi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-24
Updated: 2018-11-24
Packaged: 2019-08-28 14:05:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16724826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Squilkey/pseuds/Squilkey
Summary: TJ's family gets a pool the summer after 7th grade. For Cyrus, it's a thing of nightmares.





	1. The First Summer

**Author's Note:**

> This was a fun one for me because I had the bonus chapter (2) pretty much down before I wrote anything else. Don't need to read any of the other series to follow along, but it always makes it fun. Also yes, you might be missing a bit of info, it's allll to come.

The summer Cyrus was 13, TJ had a pool. It wasn’t a surprise at all. They had been working on it for months and Cyrus’ mom had been complaining about it for months. It was one of the few times Cyrus was thankful his bedroom was on the opposite side of the house, far away from TJ’s backyard.

It was completed two weeks before summer break and TJ was hyping up the summer as ‘the best one yet’. Cyrus was sure it would be for TJ, but he was preparing for a similar situation as last year. Long days with nothing to do and no TJ to at least slightly entertain him. TJ did, however, invite him to his ‘grand pool opening’.

“This Friday,” he grinned, handing him the invitation. “Last day, half day, of school, so it’ll start at 1:30.”

Cyrus frowned down at the invitation. “I still have another week.”

“That’s okay,” TJ shrugged. “We’ll be going for hours, all Amber’s friends and a few of my parents’ friends are coming over as well. Just come as soon as you get out of school, okay?”

Cyrus nodded, “Okay.”

“And bring Andi,” he added.

“My friend, Andi?” He clarified. He doubted she had ever been over to TJ’s house, he wasn’t even sure TJ really knew her name until that moment.

“Yeah! And the other ones, uh,” he frowned. “Sorry, I’m bad with names.”

Cyrus nodded, “It’s okay, I know. I’ll tell them,” he promised.

“Dope,” he replied, jumping down off the porch. “See ya!” Cyrus watched him go, wondering why he had specifically asked him to invite Andi. He shook his thoughts from his mind, there was no way he had a crush on her, right?

~~~

The day of the party approached rapidly and Cyrus became anxious as one o’clock came around. He walked from 5th to 6th period with Buffy, who rolled her eyes. “You don’t have to go,” she pointed out. “Just come over to my house and we’ll do something else.”

“But I promised TJ,” Cyrus sighed. “And Andi really wants to go.”

“I doubt Andi _really_ wants to go to a pool party where you’re the only one she knows,” Buffy pointed out.

“I’d feel better if you came,” Cyrus stated hopefully.

Buffy shook her head. “Nope, not a chance.”

“Come on,” Cyrus begged. “Jonah’s coming!”

“Oh yeah, because watching Jonah do cannonballs all afternoon would be such a treat,” she laughed. They stopped outside of Buffy’s classroom. “It’s a party full of private school seventh grade boys and ninth grade girls,” Buffy reminded him, “That actually sounds like my worst nightmare.”

“It’s mine too,” Cyrus frowned.

“And yet, you go,” Buffy sighed. “Can’t you have a less annoying crush?”

“Trust me, I’ve been trying to get rid of it for five years,” Cyrus sighed.

Buffy wrapped and arm around him, squeezing his shoulder, “I know.”

~~~~

Andi and Jonah walked home with him after school. They changed into their swimsuits at Cyrus’ house and then headed next door. The party was in full swing, they could hear the noise travelling from Cyrus’ backyard and down the street as they knocked on the front door.

“Cyrus!” TJ’s mom greeted, “And friends! Come in! All the boys are in the pool right now, and the girls are in the games room upstairs.” They thanked her and walked into the house.

Andi leaned over to Cyrus. “I can stay with you guys, right?” She whispered. Cyrus nodded, of course. They followed him through to the backyard, Cyrus becoming increasingly anxious as he pulled open the sliding glass door. There were at least ten kids he had never seen before running around the space, and almost as many adults standing around chatting. He looked to Jonah, who was grinning at the noticeable diving board.

“Can I go?” He asked, panting like a puppy. Cyrus nodded and Jonah took off in a near-sprint, jumping on the diving board and splashing into the pool with a bang. The act drew in onlookers, including TJ. He looked to Jonah in the pool and then traced his path, locking eyes with Cyrus. Cyrus looked back, taking in TJ fully. He was dripping wet, his hair matted to his forehead and sticking up in the back. He couldn’t help but stare as TJ approached them, grinning. He was shirtless, something Cyrus should have expected and prepared himself for, yet all that ‘keeping his cool’ practise went straight out the window. He tried to pull his eyes up to TJ’s,  but fell short at his lips, wet from the water and sparkling (somehow) in the sun. Andi helped him out with a sly elbow to his side.

“Cyrus! You made it,” he announced, throwing a hand on his shoulder and pulling him in slightly. Cyrus tried not to melt. “You brought the frisbee kid,” he commented, pulling away and looking back at the pool.  

“Jonah, yeah,” Cyrus corrected.

“Cool, cool,” he smiled. “I like him, he’s got a lot of energy.” Cyrus had to agree with that, Jonah was already talking to two of the boys in the pool. “Make yourselves at home! Cyrus you wanna meet some of my friends?” He then looked to Andi. “Amber and her friends are upstairs watching a movie I think.”

“Okay,” she looked confused and turned to Cyrus, who shrugged. “I don’t really know her very well though,” Andi explained.

“Oh,” TJ’s face faltered, he looked slightly confused. “Well you can hang out here too. One sec,” he jogged away from them and disappeared into the house.

Cyrus and Andi exchanged a look. “Did you accidentally tell him Amber and I were friends?” She asked.

“No,” Cyrus shook his head, looking at the door TJ disappeared through. “Besides, wouldn’t TJ know better than I would? I don’t talk to Amber that much.”

“Should I not have come?” Andi asked.

“No, no, no. Please stay, I really want—need—you here,” he begged.

“You’re lucky I love you,” Andi replied. “I also really want to swim,” she smiled, looking at the pool. “I just wish there were _any_ other girls here.” Cyrus nodded, looking at all the boys in the yard. Did TJ have no girl friends at his school? Or maybe they all just ended up hanging out with Amber, he thought. Cyrus looked back at the door, frowning. “I don’t think he’s coming back soon,” Andi sighed. “Do you want to get in the pool?”

Cyrus bit his lip, looking at the water in front of them. He did want to swim, but not as badly as he absolutely did not want to be shirtless in front of all these people. He was insecure, yes, that was something most people knew just by looking at him, but those insecurities kicked into high gear when he was surrounded by kids his own age. He didn’t really look like any of them: he was short and awkward, he was still trying to shake his baby fat, chubby cheeks and all, and he wasn’t nearly as toned as TJ’s basketball friends were. Hell, Cyrus didn’t even know kids his age actually went to the _gym_ gym. He thought that was strictly an ‘adult’ thing until a few months ago. Some of those kids actually had abs and leg muscles, he really hoped those ones were Amber’s friends.

“You can go ahead and join Jonah,” he told Andi, trying his best to smile. “I’ll wait for TJ.” Andi rose an eyebrow at him but walked toward the edge of the pool. Jonah swam up to her and started talking. Cyrus turned his attention elsewhere, around the party. TJ’s parents had gone all out with the pool opening. A string of star lights and been strung along the eaves of the roof, hanging down just above Cyrus’ head. They had huge pool floats and toys scattered around the yard. Cyrus smiled at the pink flamingo, he remembered telling TJ is was his favourite when they were looking at pool toys online when his parents first announced the building project. They had multiple tables set up for eating and serving food, along with trays of hotdogs and burgers, chips and candy, and coolers of drinks.

He made his way over to the closest cooler, pulling out a Dr. Pepper. The can was near frozen and he would have loved to hold it against his forehead, but he knew Andi would notice he was hot and demand he join them in the pool. A very wet kid came running up to him, bending down and opening up the cooler to get himself a soda.

He stared at Cyrus for a minute. “I don’t think I know you,” he commented.

“Probably not,” Cyrus agreed, extending a hand, “Cyrus Goodman.”

The kid laughed at his gesture, but took his hand anyway, shaking it forcefully. “I’m Reed, TJ’s friend from school.”

“Friend from next door,” Cyrus explained.

“Ah, neighbour boy. Heard a bit about you,” he revealed. “All good stuff, all good stuff.” He pointed back at the pool. “You gonna get in?”

“Maybe in a bit.”

“Right,” he replied, sprinting away from the conversation and jumping in the pool, soda can and all.

“You met Reed?” The voice made Cyrus jump, TJ was directly behind him.

“Yeah,” Cyrus nodded, “He’s—”

“—A dumbass,” TJ finished.

“I was going to say cool, but we can use your word,” Cyrus said. “Isn’t he your friend?”

“Oh yeah, best friend.” Ouch, that stung a little. “He’s still an idiot, though,” TJ laughed. “Hey, where’s Andi?” Cyrus scanned the pool area, spotting her and Jonah at the far end. He pointed them out. “Cool.”

“Why did you think she and Amber were friends?” Cyrus asked, tapping the side of his soda can.

“Just thought they would get along,” TJ said. Cyrus frowned. They were two years apart and really didn’t seem to have much in common, as far as Cyrus could tell. Why would TJ be using his sister as an excuse to get closer to Andi? Why wouldn’t he just tell Cyrus he wanted to hang out with her? He elbowed Cyrus out of his thoughts. “I think we’re all going to go up and watch a movie soon. You wanna get in before?”

Cyrus shrugged. “Ah, no point getting wet before going into your house.”

“My parents don’t care, everyone’s wet. Come on.”

“I’d prefer not to,” Cyrus pushed. TJ shrugged, not trying to argue any further. He, like the other boys, sprinted away to jump into the pool. Cyrus frowned down at the wet, marble tile. If they all kept running like that, someone was going to crack their head open.

He watched everyone enjoy the pool, feeling slightly out of place just standing by the cooler. He decided to wander down to the other side, seeing if he could talk to his friends. Jonah was standing on the diving board, a few boys yelling up at him. He turned around and backed down it slowly. Cyrus bit his lip, Jonah was high on his list of kids most likely to break their skulls at a pool party. But he bounced off the board, doing a perfect backflip and splashing into the pool, Cyrus exhaled. Sometimes, Jonah impressed him. The boys whooped at him and another kid pulled himself out, stepping forward to do the same. The boy was much sloppier, and his entrance into the pool splashed water out and onto Cyrus’ shirt. He jumped back slightly, trying to avoid the majority of the spray.

“Scared of the water?” Cyrus jumped again, people really needed to stop sneaking up on him when he was deep in thought. He turned to see Reed, the kid from earlier.

“No.”

“Why don’t you go in?”

“We’re going to watch a movie soon,” Cyrus replied.

“Soon. Not now.”

“I’m okay.”

“Okay,” Reed replied, stepping away. Cyrus relaxed a little, just realising how tense Reed had made him. He barely had a second to yelp when Reed came back up behind him, scooping him up by his torso and chucking him into the pool.

He felt all the air leave from his lungs, the cold no longer refreshing, but burning. He felt himself sink for a moment, frozen, unsure of what to do. He could swim, that wasn’t the issue, he couldn’t think. He was in shock, most likely. What the hell had just happened? Had TJ’s friend really _picked him up and thrown him into the pool?_ Who does that? He squeezed his eyes shut tight, trying to take a deep breath. Nope. He was still underwater. The sensation forced him to react properly, shooting up out of the water.

He gasped for air, coughing up what he had inhaled. His vision was blurry, but he knew Andi was right next to him, holding onto his arm. She helped him swim to the ledge, his clothes pulling him back a little, and she let go, pulling herself out. She grabbed his arm and he used his other to support himself as he pulled himself up. Cyrus doubled over and coughed, not bothering to cover his mouth as water was still coming out. Andi whacked his back, which helped greatly. Jonah had appeared at his side as well, his hand on Cyrus’ shoulder.

Cyrus suddenly realised he was still in the middle of a pool party. He looked up, rubbing his eyes and trying to find the spot he had been thrown from, the spot Reed was most likely still standing in. Andi tried to pull him away, drag him out of there, but he fought her back with what little strength he had.

“Chill! It was funny!”

“It wasn’t fucking funny!” That was TJ’s voice, and Cyrus’ eyes found him immediately. He had Reed pressed up against the fence, TJ’s arm across Reed’s torso, the other one on the side of his head, as if he had just smacked the spot to the side of his face. Reed’s eyes found Cyrus’ and TJ noticed, turning around. Okay, now he wanted to go.

He pulled on Andi, and she agreed eagerly, walking out as fast as possible, Jonah immediately behind. Cyrus was soaking wet, and he felt incredibly bad about crossing through the house in that state, but he would have had to walk past TJ and Reed to cut through to his backyard, and he wasn’t embarrassing himself like that.

They made it through the house and out the front door when TJ called out his name. Cyrus stopped, he couldn’t help himself. He wasn’t even mad at TJ, he was embarrassed and upset. He probably should have been mad at him, if Andi’s reaction was anything to go by, but he just, wasn’t.

“I am so sorry,” TJ said. “Like I said, he’s an idiot.”

“I’m fine.”

“I’m going to beat him, I swear.”

Cyrus shook his head, which gave him an awful headache. “Don’t.”

“Cyrus, that was a shitty thing to do. He could have seriously hurt you.”

“He didn’t. Can I go? Please? I have a headache.” TJ nodded, but didn’t say anything else. Andi glared at him, wrapping an arm around Cyrus and pulling him down the street. Cyrus was incredibly thankful Jonah was with them at that moment, otherwise Andi would have tried to launch into a ‘reasons why Cyrus’ crush should _not_ exist’ lecture. He just wanted to lie down and forget about it all, and thankfully, they let him.

~~~

A few weeks later, at the start of his official summer, Cyrus opened the door to reveal a very shirtless TJ Kippen behind it. He swallowed, noticing his board shorts were slipping below his hips, the waistband of his underwear visible. Cyrus pulled his eyes away, trying to meet TJ’s. “Hey,” he said, his voice a little unstable. He avoided that pool for a reason, and TJ kept bringing that reason right back to him.

“You okay?” His face fell slightly.

“Yeah,” he forced a smile, “What’s up?”

TJ grinned, gesturing to his body, “Pool?”

“Um,” Cyrus bit his lip, looking toward TJ’s house.

“Hey,” TJ knocked his arm, “Relax, my friends aren’t over. I promise, he’ll never be in my pool when you’re around.” Cyrus nodded slowly, looking back over to TJ. How could he explain that TJ’s friends were definitely low on his list of problems with spending time at TJ’s pool?

He looked back over his shoulder into his house. “I just have some stuff I have to do for my mom,” he lied.

TJ shrugged. “Okay, no problem, I’ll just force Amber to watch me do flips,” he grinned. “You’ll come by later though, right? No pool, just hanging out.”

“Yup,” he said, any time it was too dark or too cold to swim, he’d be happy to go over.

Thankfully, that was the last direct invite Cyrus had that summer, he had managed to avoid the pool in all other situations. TJ had his friends over often enough, or Amber had friends over TJ could weasel his way into swimming with. Besides, TJ had stopped with the sports stuff, it wasn’t that far of a jump to lump swimming in with all the other physical activities Cyrus hated doing. That pool would always be a place of nightmares, he was sure of it.


	2. All Nightmares End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cyrus swore he would never enjoy that pool, it had been a nightmare. But all nightmares end, and some even turn into dreams.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> gotta love writing 3000 words of backstory to write cute 500 word 'present day' tyrus heh

Cyrus and TJ sat shoulder to shoulder, their feet in the pool. It was almost dark out, but the setting sun gave off just enough light that Cyrus could make out TJ’s features. He was breathing softly, a small smile on his face. “You know I used to be terrified of this pool,” Cyrus commented. 

TJ laughed. “I know, because of Reed.” 

Cyrus shook his head. “Nope, because of you.” 

TJ frowned, angling away from Cyrus slightly, “You were terrified of me?”

“Shirtless TJ Kippen? With messy-gel-less hair? Against my awful crush? Yeah, terrified doesn’t quite cut it.” 

TJ gestured to his bare torso and then tousled his own hair. “Am I not those things right now?” He joked, bumping Cyrus’ shoulder. 

“Mmm,” Cyrus mumbled, leaning against him. “You are, but I guess it doesn’t affect me the same.” 

TJ held his hand over his heart, shaking his head. “Are you saying I’m no longer attractive?”

Cyrus chuckled, “Oh yeah. This?” He gestured up and down TJ’s body, “Huge turn off.” He felt TJ laugh against him. 

“Wait. So does this mean you aren’t scarred from being thrown in the water?” 

“Nope. Pretty good cover story though, right? I could almost thank Re—TJ!” Cyrus yelped as TJ wrapped his arms around him, kicking off the pool wall and pulling Cyrus’ whole body into the water. Cyrus came up, shaking the water from his hair as he did so. “You’re evil.” 

“You don’t know how long I’ve wanted to do that,” TJ laughed, grabbing onto the ledge. 

“You’ve wanted to tackle me into the water for a long time?” Cyrus questioned, swimming up to the ledge and facing TJ. 

“Mhm,” TJ agreed. “I have weird impulses.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” TJ tackled him again, pushing off the wall and back into the open water. Cyrus wiggled free and dove under him, grabbing his leg to make him turn and then swimming up the other way, splashing him in the face. He laughed at the shock on TJ’s face, ducking back under water when TJ tried to retaliate. TJ dove after him, coming up the other side and splashing him back. Cyrus ducked again, missing almost all of the spray, and kicking away. 

TJ was far enough down the side of the pool to stand on the ground, and had managed to grab hold of Cyrus’ foot, pulling the boy toward him. Cyrus came up for air mid-drag, using his arms to splash water back at TJ. But TJ’s stance gave him the upper hand and he dropped Cyrus’ ankle quickly, grabbing his wrists in return and pulling him in close. “Whatcha gonna do now?” He whispered, smirking. 

They were incredibly close, Cyrus could feel the warmth of TJ’s body in the cool pool. He let his impulses pull him closer, his nose almost touching TJ’s. Cyrus jerked his wrist away weakly, trying to still play along. It was hard like this, he had lost any train of thought he might have been following. TJ was so close to him, holding him. Cyrus’ heart was beating fast, he felt out of breath, and not from all the wrestling. 

They were still staring at each other, TJ’s smirk still across his face. Cyrus wondered if he knew how badly he wanted to kiss him right now, if he knew how crazy TJ drove him. He let out a shaky breath and TJ pulled him in closer, their chests touching. “If you aren’t going to do anything,” he whispered, “Can I?” Cyrus nodded and TJ leaned in, pulling Cyrus hands down in the water as he did so. His lips were warm and Cyrus melted into the kiss. TJ pulled back and Cyrus let out a whine in protest. TJ chuckled and then moved back in, kissing him again. Cyrus would never get over this feeling, it was electrifying every time. He kissed TJ back, letting himself sink into the water a little. He was kissing TJ Kippen in a pool as the sun set in the middle of summer. His thirteen-year-old self could have never imagined something so perfect. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If it were 2009 TJ would be the kid that is secretly 'rawr xd im random' inside. On the outside, 'Dynamite, Bottoms Up, and Like a G6' would have gone hard at his pool party. 
> 
> wait, do those songs still go hard at pool parties? i feel like they would
> 
> wait what am i saying? tj just randomly tackling cyrus is so soft and i love it

**Author's Note:**

> I had a lot of fun with the Jonah comments in this, can you tell? Trying to get more used to writing him into fics. 
> 
> Peep the next chapter for some Tyrus tyrus


End file.
